Refrigerated cabinet



Nov. 2, 1937. v. MINANA ET AL 2,098,155

REFRIGERATED CABINET Original Filed Dec. 3, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l 5 iii /1 I :H 3

1 3 iii E H 3mm T/z'crenze .2 71775125 7 Uzi/1'0 Himandu 55116170 Nov. 2, 1937. A HAL 2,098,155

REFRIGERATED CABINET Original Filed Dec. 3, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L/Z/[i 1721025170 0 55/151747 Patented Nov. 2, 1937 REFRIGERATED CABINET Vicente Mifiana and Julio Armando Galiano, Buenos Aires, Argentina Application-December 3, 1934, Serial No. 755,814

.McRenewed June .24, 1937 2 ,Claims.

This invention is directed to an improvement in refrigerating apparatus designed moreparticularly for use in -connection withicechests in which ice is placed fortheusual effect; and

wherein a refrigeratingliquid is arranged: for

thermo-siphonic circulation and utilized during suchcirculation to abstract heat from thematerial-containing portion of the ice chest to thereby augment the cooling effect of thebody of ice.

The primary object-of the present invention is the provision of an ice chest or like container adapted toreceive a body of iceand provided with a circulating passage fora refrigerant having aheat exchange relation to the'body of ice and a furthenheat exchange -relationto' the interior of the ice chest, the refrigerant'being, by reason of its heat exchange relations,-cause.d to

- circulate andthus serve as a heat exchange metil dium to augment the direct influenceof the body of ice.

The invention is illustrated in the accompany- Figure 2 isa sectionalview on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, the cake of ice illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 1 being omitted.

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, the cake of ice being omitted.

Figure 4 is a broken perspective view showing a modified arrangement of certain details of the apparatus.

An ice chest or like container of any preferred or conventional form is indicated at I in Figure 1 and in the upper portion of this chest is arranged a partition or plate 22 on which a cake or body of ice, shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, may be supported. This partition 22 inclines downwardly in one direction and is of course supported in any appropriate manner.

Immediately underlying the partition 22 there is provided a refrigerant vessel 2, the upper wall of which underlies the ice supporting partition 22 and. is in close proximity thereto. The vessel 2 extends in parallelism with the partition 22 and therefore inclines downwardly toward one side of the ice chest and at its lowest point is extended vertically in proximity to and parallelism with one of the vertical walls of the ice chest. The vessel 2 thus has one leg underlying the ice compartment and a second communicating leg extending vertically of the ice chest in line with the lower end of the ice compartment.

The vessel 2 is provided with an interior. partition H which terminates short of the respective ends of the vesse1-2 and thus divides said vessel into independent-chambersfi and 1 communicating with each other only at the respective ends of the vessel. The upper or highest point of the vessel 2 is provided with an inlet 4having a closing cap 3, whereby a refrigerating liquid, such as brine, may be introduced into the vessel 2 and such refrigerating liquid conveniently renewed from'time to time if necessary.

Underlying the-vessel 2 and substantially commensurate in length therewith both horizontally and vertically is a partition l5 bywhich the ice chest is divided into a material-receiving compartment and a compartment for the reception of the refrigerating units- Between the vertical leg of the partition l5 and the depending leg of the vessel 2 is arranged a tank 12, the upperopen end of which is in communication with the icereceiving compartment above the partition 22 through the medium of a pipe l3 by which the water from the melted ice cake or ice body is delivered into the tank; The-level of thiswater in the tank is maintained by an overflow pipe I communicating with the tank and leading to an outlet.

The depending leg 5 of the refrigerant vessel 2 is formed with an opening l6 for the passage of air for the purpose of increasing the circulation of the refrigerant. Drip vessels 23 are provided below the depending leg 5 of the refrigerant vessel and the tank l2, the discharge pipes leading from each of these drip vessels.

With ice in solid form and appropriate volume placed on the partition 22 and an appropriate refrigerating agent, such as brine, placed in the vessel 2, the apparatus will compel a reduction in temperature of the material-receiving compartment of the ice chest materially in excess of that of the ice blocks alone. When the refrigerating agent in the vessel 2 is cooled by the ice blocks to an appropriate extent, the thermo-siphonic flow of such refrigerating agent is obviously compelled, this flow taking place downwardly through the chamber 6 and upwardly through the chamber 1.

Of course, in the flow of the agent, particularly through the depending leg of the vessel, there is a heat exchange between the chamber 1 and the material-receiving compartment of the ice chest which raises the temperature of the refrigerating agent in this chamber to maintain the circulation. The water incident to the melting of the ice body flows into the tank l2, providing an additional heat exchange medium for the material-receiving compartment, a circulation of air creased period over that conventionally incident along the external surface of the tank produced by the difference of temperature between the compartments on the opposite side of the leg of the depending partition 15 serving to circulate such air and utilizing this air circulation as a heat exchange element for withdrawing the heat from the material-receiving compartment, incident of course to the relative difference in temperature between the cold water in the tank I2 and the air in the material-receiving compartment. .i

If the ice chest and apparatus are designed for large units, the heat exchange incident to this air flow may be increased by the use of mechanically-driven pumps or like elements in a manner well understood and not requiring illustration.

By reason of the heat exchange temperature of the material-receiving compartment of the ice chest will be maintained at a comparatively low degree for a materially ineven after the ice body has been completely melted.

Figure 4 shows a modified form of the present invention intended for application in those cases where the device may be subjected to shocks or vibration, for instance, on railway cars or the like. The device as shown in Figure 1 could not practically be used on railway cars since a thermo-siphonic vessel as shown in that figure would suffer too much from vibration and shocks.

Therefore, it is proposed in this case to substitute lower collector 26. -A further lower series of pipes 21 extends from this lower collector into the updescribed, the

per collector 24 beneath the series of pipes 25 Further, a baifie plate I5 provides for the circulation of air and heat exchange, the same as in the first example described. As may be seen, the sole diiference in this modification resides therein that instead of one single unit 2, 5 divided into two chambers by a partition, provision is made for two series of pipes separated one from the other.

Undoubtedly, when carrying this invention into practice, it is obvious that certain modifications may be made as concerns construction and materials and it should be clearly understood that all such modifications of form or constructional details are comprised within the scope of the claims hereto appended.

What we claim is:

1. A refrigerated cabinet including an elongated vessel extending over the top and one side of a food chamber, said vessel being designed to contain a refrigerant and being arranged in the cabinet, with one part of said vessel arranged over the top of the food chamber and inclining downwardly toward a second part of said vessel, which latter is arranged at one side of the food chamber and extends vertically of the cabinet, a partition within the vessel dividing it into two chambers, the partition at the ends being free of connection with the vessel to permit communication between the chambers at the respective ends of the vessel, a collecting chamber at the upper part of the vessel, said vessel and chamber forming a closed thermo-siphon circuit, that portion of the vessel extending over the top of the food chamber serving as a support for a solid refrigerant.

2. A construction as defined in claim 1, including a tank receiving water from the solid refrigerant, said tank being arranged adjacent that portion of the vessel arranged at one side of the food chamber, and an overflow pipe draining from said tank.

VICENTE MINANA. JULIO ARMANDO GALIANO. 

